: Maybe not. They tried to make the environment feel bigger and more complex
: with things like small false branches. Even though the level is very
: linear, having the line explicitly designated with floor arrows can damage
: the sense of space. Bungie probably figured that the giant blue navigation
: marker floating in the air, combined with the player's spatial awareness,
: combined with the good persistence of things like bodies and weapons and
: decals, was good enough.

: Personally I think the atmosphere in the original is substantially more
: effective than the new version. It feels more vast and ancient, and
: together with the dance, it's mesmerizing.

Ditto. And what sespider said. I like the graphics; pretty. But the level I preferred more in the original, and the atmosphere fit it. It made more sense in context, and the strategy needed for completion was better (ymmv). I never truly got lost, just maybe a few times took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end having to fight my way back. Spatial awareness really is key in that level. You can't just run around and fight and always expect to be moving forward, or recognize visually where you've been (apart from dead corpses). I really liked to change-up to the Halo gameplay strategy in the original. But it was quite divergent from the rest of the game, thus all the hate :P